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KIRAN BHAMRA COX - STREET & PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER

Published 09th Mar 2020

Find out what photographer and Instagrammer Kiran B Cox made of the new 105mm lens on his recent trip to India....

Find out what photographer and Instagrammer Kiran B Cox made of the new 105mm lens on his recent trip to India....

How did you get in to photography?

I got into photography at University. I was studying Multimedia Technology & Design and to be honest I wasn't really enjoying the course too much. In the second year of the course we touched on photography for a couple of weeks. As cliché as it sounds, something clicked and I knew that's what I wanted to do. I had no idea about photography but I got my first camera a few months later and started teaching myself from there.

@Kiran B Cox

What inspired you to get into street photography? What is it about street photography that draws you to it?

For me, getting into street photography was a natural progression. I never really knew about different genres of photography when I started out, but the more I would walk around and shoot, the more I found myself shooting people.

Something that I've never been able to get used to is photographing strangers, every time I go out I have to rebuild the confidence to invade a stranger's space to take a photograph, but that is something that draws me to street photography. Being able to put my headphones in and spend a day walking the streets, interacting with people and taking photographs is something I love doing. From that, the buzz you get, when you get the one photo, from hours of shooting is something I crave every time I leave the house with a camera.

What Nikon kit do you use?

For digital I use a Nikon D810 with a 20mm and a 35mm. I have an SB-700 if I need to use flash, and for film I used a Nikon F801 mainly with a 50mm.

What is it you like about the 105mm F/1.4E lens?

The main thing I love about the 105mm lens is the aesthetic quality of the images you can achieve. Being able to focus close to a subject adds a lot more depth and intimacy to portraits. I've found with other long focal length lenses there is a detachment from your subject but I find with the close focus distance on this, that is not an issue.

Will this lens enable you to do more with your photography and if so, what will it bring?

Definitely. This lens adds a completely different element to the way I shoot when I'm using it. For street photography it allows me to capture situations that might be disturbed if I were to get closer using a wider lens such as the 35mm. It also brings in a different creative aspect for shooting portraits, lifestyle and product photography. The depth of field you can achieve shooting with this lens is something you can't create with shorter focal length prime lenses.

What would you like to do next with the lens?

I'd want to just keep working with this lens for different projects in general, from street to commercial, event and fashion work. I think the lens has a very unique feel to the way it produces images and would be a great addition to a lot of photographer's line up.